US GP decision on hold

NEWS STORY28/02/2006

A decision as to whether Formula One will continue at Indianapolis will be made after this year's Grand Prix, it has been revealed.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) spokesman, Fred Nation, told the Indianapolis Star: "We had conversations after last year's event and then mutually decided to address the future after we see how this year's event goes."

The 2005 'event' will go down in motorsport history, but for all the wrong reasons, the 'race' contested by just three teams when seven of their rivals withdrew from the event for 'safety' reasons.

The event was widely seen as a political football, with the FIA, Michelin and various F1 teams and manufacturers turning the pinnacle of motorsport into a farce.

Subsequently, Michelin, which leaves F1 at the end of the 2006, offered refunds to race fans who attended the event in addition to free tickets for this year's Grand Prix.

Although the IMS has said that it is waiting until after the Grand Prix before making a decision, F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has already been making noises about taking the event to other venues, with Las Vegas being one of his favoured locations.

That said, and ignoring the 2005 debacle, Americans remain largely unconvinced by F1, and Ecclestone's choice of venues in the past - including a car park in Las Vegas - has done nothing to help the situation.